Jan. 10 #Options | High & Unusual Volume: Stocks & ETFs

The power of options lies in their versatility as they present a world of opportunity to sophisticated investors (see the 32Trades version of “Options 101“). This versatility, however, does not come without its costs and, despite what anybody tells you, option trading involves risk, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. It’s for this reason why ONLY risk capital should ever be used.

One easy way to get a feel for options, or even bank on them, is to “follow the money.”

The lists below are the highest volume options traded today. When looking into one, visit StockCharts or your trading platform to pull up the chart so you can visualize and track the divergences, PPS spikes, and get a feel for why the volume was so high and if it is one you might want to track.

Top 10 Stock Options Traded

Symbol

Type

Strike

Exp Date

Last

Volume

OI

IV

EXPR

Put

10

1/20/2017

0.05

32,999

9,427

45.00%

CHK

Call

7

3/17/2017

0.66

31,615

858

59.63%

ABBV

Call

60

1/20/2017

4.4

31,322

7,053

27.56%

BAC

Call

22

1/20/2017

1.23

26,163

246,795

40.97%

INTC

Put

34

2/17/2017

0.33

25,170

2,990

27.13%

INTC

Call

38

2/17/2017

0.46

25,081

11,104

21.03%

AKS

Call

13

2/17/2017

0.33

24,238

606

67.55%

BMY

Call

65

3/17/2017

0.84

23,217

32,697

26.43%

S

Put

5

1/19/2018

0.57

22,522

8,134

70.80%

CX

Call

8

1/20/2017

0.13

21,529

42,714

43.46%

Top 10 ETF Options Traded

Symbol

Type

Strike

Exp Date

Last

Volume

OI

IV

XLF

Put

23

2/17/2017

0.32

92,842

56,702

18.52%

GDX

Put

21.5

3/17/2017

1.1

51,293

1,209

43.06%

EEM

Call

36.5

1/20/2017

0.24

44,073

86,281

16.15%

SPY

Call

228

2/17/2017

2.41

40,545

41,934

10.37%

EWZ

Call

40

3/17/2017

0.37

40,057

6,461

29.68%

EWZ

Put

40

3/17/2017

5.25

35,000

6,025

30.85%

SPY

Put

220

2/17/2017

1.2

34,297

115,911

12.71%

EEM

Call

40

3/17/2017

0.1

32,515

95,174

16.63%

EEM

Put

40

3/17/2017

3.8

32,507

62,745

16.88%

SPY

Call

227

1/11/2017

0.27

31,534

14,585

9.02%

Unusual Options Activity

Provides insight on what “smart money” is doing with large volume orders. Option volume that exceeds open interest signals new positioning.